Who Squawks? Who Blinks?

November 21, 1985|By pink

Who says developers don't have the upper hand in Orange County? Once again they've shown their skill, demanding and getting a change in the county staff's list of recommended road improvements to be built with the proposed fees on developments.

Last year county staffers drew up the list of roads to be improved, based on the expected traffic. Included on the list was the four-laning of Turkey Lake Road between Interstate 4 and Sand Lake Road in southwest Orange County. County engineers estimated that in five years the road would be clogged with 21,000 vehicle trips per day -- 6,800 more than it is designed to carry. As recently as July, staffers reaffirmed their decision.

Enter a developers' committee appointed to work with county staffers on development fees. Early on the committee began pressuring staffers to remove Turkey Lake Road from the list and replace it with another road. Harold Hill, capital facilities director, said staffers ''caught so much flak'' from developers, particularly former county Commissioner Lee Chira, that they made the change.

The issue here isn't which road should have gotten the nod. More important is that the staff had made up its mind based on what it thought were good reasons. Then it changed the list based on the squawks of developers. Is that what's going to happen on all the road decisions involving these new development fees?

Orange County's decision to come up with fees to improve roads was a step vital to keeping the area's roads at pace with growth. But Dec. 9, when county commissioners consider approving the fees, they should make clear who will be in charge. Will it be the commissioners or the developers?